Welcome to Real Debate Wisconsin (RDW). This is primarily a conservative blog but we always welcome input from all points of view. Things get heated upon occasion but we ask that our readers do their best to keep things civil and respect all participants. We always welcome guest posts, so if there is something you would like to share feel free to email me at fkd1015 at yahoo dot com.

Our friend Plebian over at Daily Dollop has come up with the The Ten Commandments of Climate Change.

As I am sure you are aware a British court has documented the factual "issues" of Al Gore's film issuing the following ruling: In order for the film to be shown, the Government must first amend their Guidance Notes to Teachers to make clear that 1.) The Film is a political work and promotes only one side of the argument. 2.) If teachers present the Film without making this plain they may be in breach of section 406 of the Education Act 1996 and guilty of political indoctrination. 3.) Eleven inaccuracies have to be specifically drawn to the attention of school children...".

Given the current obsession with certain liberal members of our court I am sure they will pay proper attention to international law.

Add to that a bunch of elists giving Al Gore a peace prize for using scare tactics and a subject that has nothing to do with peace, I thought this would be a good time to share Plebians work.

LISTEN TO ME, OH BENIGHTED CHILDREN OF MEN! I bring to you these ten commandments of Global Climate Change, which thou shalt hear and obey henceforth so as to walk in the path that leads to carbon righteousness. Woe be to those who crave the fossil fuels, for it would be better for them that they had never learned to drive than that they continue to emit the invisible gas which slowly chokes us unto death.

Hear now my commandments:

1) I am the Arbiter of Science. Thou shalt have no other arbiters before me.

2) Thou shalt support thy Arbiter in all things, and at all times, and for every purpose. Regardless of the inanity of my statements, thou shalt accept them as gospel. Thou shalt propose me as the winner of any and all awards, regardless of its description or purpose or my fundamental lack of merit. I am thy Arbiter.

7) Thou shalt not visit those web sites which gainsay me, nor shall thou readeth Michael Crichton, for he speaketh with the golden tongue of the devil himself. I am thy Arbiter.

8) Thou shalt accept Climate Change as the reason for all things. For everything there is a season, which is either hotter or colder or the same because of Anthropomorphic Climate Change. I am thy Arbiter.

9) Thou shalt not employ logic, nor correct they fallacies. Logic is the tool of the unbelievers and the faithless, and you shall abandon it at all costs. Stray not from the one true path, nor acknowledge one speck of contrary data. I am thy Arbiter.

10) Thou shalt honor and obey my apostles, the stars and starlets, who speaketh with my voice and act through my will. They shall be as Arbiters to you as well, unless they should speak against me, and thenceforth earn my wrath and scorn until they have served penance by purchasing mighty offsets from my company. I am thy Arbiter.

In all these things thou shalt act with faith for me, thy Arbiter, and the decider of science and the right.

What concerns me about this situation is that Turkey is the supply route for the US military to the Middle East. Has anyone seen this story in our local news? I've only seen it so far on foreign television and internet. This genocide occurred in 1915 - why did it take the US 90 years to come to this realization? Bloggers on international political blogs are calling this vote "disgraceful". What do the RealDebate bloggers think about it?

Due to this vote, American Barbie and Spiderman dolls are being burned in Turkey!

Yes it's true, an RUSD teacher likes something the Racine Journal Times writes. They take a shot at the current and past school board members who have been cowering in the corner avoiding a decision on redistricting.

In the story the editorialists tell Unified to actually make a decision. For two plus years now, the school board has been saying they need to address redistricting the schools for the sake of integration and/or reduce bussing costs. They put off the decision multiple times for a myriad of reasons. What the procrastination boiled down to is that there is no truly right decision, and some group will be angry with the choice.

A domino affect has result from the frequent postponements. Once a redistricting decsion is reached, the district can also decide on changing grade levels within the schools and adjusting the start times.

Neighborhood schools is the way to go. The district will save money, probably increase parental involvement, and not have to address this issue again for some time. Of course, the race baiters will hate that particular decision, but it's not their district to run.

It is entirely possible that years of procrastinating could begin to come to a head at the end of this month. While a conclusion would be nice, I hope it's the one that will be best for the district going forward.

October 10, 2007

The belief that Wisconsin, or worse, the USA should convert to a National Health Care system is one of the main issues I strongly disagree with the Democratic party on. While I agree that our health care system desperately needs change, I will never be convinced a National Health Care system similar to countries in Europe is the answer primarily due to my own personal experiences with the NHS.

The following article is actually breaking news today in Britain:

Appalling standards of care and a catalogue of failures contributed to the deaths of 331 patients in the worst outbreak of a hospital superbug ever recorded in the NHS, a report has found. Crowded wards, a shortage of nurses and financial problems led to 1,176 people contracting Clostridium difficile over two and half years at three hospitals in Kent.

Though the superbug was rife on the wards, managers failed to act. Isolation units were not set up, nurses were so rushed they did not have time to wash their hands and patients were left in soiled beds. Bedpans were not decontaminated properly and beds were not cleaned as well as they should have been.

The health watchdog, the Healthcare Commission, concluded that the infection probably or definitely killed at least 90 patients and was a factor in the deaths of a further 241. Fourteen patients who died were found to have C.diff but it did not contribute to their deaths. In total 345 people died with the infection.

The report said some patients at the hospitals run by the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Hospital Trust should have made a full recovery from their initial illness. But they caught the bug and died. Police will determine if there are grounds for criminal charges. In May 2004 the chief executive of the trust, Rose Gibb, told the BBC she had known about the cleanliness problem for six months. But by September last year the hospitals were in the grip of their second outbreak.

Ms Gibb resigned on Friday before the release of the report. The commission found cases where the patient probably died as a result of their C.diff infection but it was not mentioned on the death certificate.

The number of people who died also turned out to be far higher than declared to the media and the commission.

Last week the chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, wrote to all doctors telling them to ensure hospital infections were routinely included on death certificates. Gordon Brown has announced a raft of measures to improve cleanliness in the NHS.The commission report said managers at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells trust were too focused on hitting Government targets and were cutting nursing staff and closing beds to balance the books, contributing to the problem.The first of two outbreaks affected 150 patients between October and December 2005. Even though the number of new cases doubled, managers did not notice.

A further 258 patients contracted C.diff in a second outbreak from April to September 2006 but an isolation ward to care for infected patients was not set up until four months into the outbreak. At the time of the outbreaks, the trust was carrying out a programme to save £40 million over three years and the report said there was intense pressure to reduce beds.

It ended last year almost £5 million in the red.

The care of patients once they had contracted the infection was poor, they were given unsuitable medication and were often dehydrated or underfed.The shadow health secretary, Andrew Lansley, said: "Centrally imposed waiting list targets have become such a burden on hospital staff that they have less time and fewer resources to protect patients."

Dr Malcolm Stewart, the medical director of Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, said infection control had improved dramatically in the last six months.He said: "We are sorry about what happened and are determined to continue to reduce levels of the infection."

BY NUMBERS55,634 people over the age of 65 were infected with C.diff last year in England.1,170 patients were infected at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Hospital Trust between April 2004 and September 2006.331 the number of patients who died where c.diff was the main cause or at least a likely contributing factor in their death.50 million pounds of extra funding to fight hospital infections was announced in July this year by ministers.45 per cent of hospital trusts reported that Government targets got in the way of implementing infection control.3 per cent of adults carrying clostridium difficile harmlessly in their gut.1 billion pounds is the estimated cost of healthcare associated infections each year to the NHS.

Last week I reported on the fight of Orville Seymer to obtain public documents from the Racine Unified School District.

Well I now have new information that suggests this is NOT a new trend. Since that report I have received two other reports of the district not coming forth with information.

On 7/26/07 a request was made for any written or electronic communication between Dr. Hicks and Nick Alioto re: Energy Contract or any related material from 1/1/06 to 7/26/07. That document request was ignored.

If you would like a refresher on the energy contract, I wrote about that here and here.

At the same time a request for any written or electronic correspondence between Dr. Hicks and Nick Alioto regarding the PBCG contract or bonuses paid from 11/1/05 to 7/26/06 was made. That request was also ignored.

Interesting a third request was also made on 7/26/07 requesting information or electronic correspondence between Dr. Hicks and Nick Alioto regarding Caddy Vista from 1/1/06 to 7/26/06. That request was responded to. The response, no such documents exist.

I have also learned another citizen has been attempting to review the documents held by the Rinehart and Deloitte firms and has been told it would cost him thousands of dollars to do so. He does not want copies, he just wants to review them and he is being pushed aside.

October 8, 2007

There is a truly interesting political situation happening today across the pond. Considering the Brits are America's closest military ally it's something we should be hearing more about in the news.

There was to be an election for British Prime Minister, however, it was called off today by the current Prime Minister, Labor Party's Gordon Brown (Gordon Brown replaced Tony Blair earlier this year). The position of Prime Minister is basically the equivalent in Britain to our US President. (Silly me at one time I ignorantly thought the Queen was in charge...)

The most interesting part of this story is WHY the election was called off. It was due to the opinion polls which showed the Conservatives in the lead and the Labor party quickly losing ground. The Labor party decided it was far too risky to hold an election and possibly lose to the Conservative party. Apparently, the Prime Minister can choose whether he/she wants to hold an election. They have maximum terms in the UK for Prime Minister, not fixed terms. So, at a time they see themselves as doing favorably in the polls, they can hold an early election. Gordon Brown apparently felt he was strong enough to hold an early election, until the polling results came in this past week.

One reason why the PM would voluntarily choose to hold an election when it is not necessary would be to prove a mandate by the people, something Gordon Brown was hoping to be able to do. A general election could have also doubled his current majority in the House of Commons.

The announcement by Gordon Brown for British withdrawal of troops from Iraq this past week was made during the Tory (Conservative) Party Conference in hopes to boost his ratings. David Cameron, the Conservative leader and Brown's opponent, was furious that Brown had visited Iraq last week and made the announcement of the 1,000 strong withdrawal while the Conservative conference was going on. However, the polls continued its dismal downfall in favor of the Conservative party so the decision was made today to cancel the election.

Many feel Gordon Brown's months of speculation for an early election, his lack of support in the polls, and the last minute decision to cancel the elections has caused irreparable damage to his reputation and credibility.

I am watching this situation very closely - Bush does not have the strong support from Brown that he had from Tony Blair. Brown now wants desperately to prove himself to the people after his poor performance in the polls, so I suspect will make his break from Bush even more apparent in the upcoming months.

The AFSCME crowd is trying to gather some people to go to Madison and crash AFP's rally.

This went out today:

Be on hand to welcome members of the anti tax crowd to the state Capitol on Wednesday, Oct. 17, 11:30 - 2 p.m. Anti-government zealots calling themselves "Americans for Prosperity" (the people behind TABOR) have bought billboards in metro areas and will rent buses to bring their followers to Madison. Right wing bloggers and radio squawkers are loudly promoting the event. Their effort is aimed squarely at public services. Their goal is to fan anti-tax flames and encourage Republican members of the State Assembly to continue blocking the long-overdue state budget. Our message to legislators blocking the budget is clear:We do our jobs - now you do yours! While certain legislators are dancing to the tune of a radical fringe group, there are serious consequences for Wisconsin citizens. While politicians play games, we still do our jobs. But our ability to continue providing the highest quality services is undermined by inadequate resources. The safety of our correctional institutions is on the line. The future of basic public services, health care and education for tens of thousands of people is being sold out to score political points.Failure to pass a new budget will mean Real Cuts that hurt Real People and cause Real Pain.

No, not passing a budget means no cuts at all. It means we operate at the same level as we did last year. Apparently math is not required to be an AFSCME loudmouth. This would be a 0% cut. Of course in liberal speak this is a fate worse than death.

I was not aware we were calling for an end to taxes, we are calling to an end to higher taxes. Wisconsin has enough and has made ZERO effort to attempt to hold the line on taxes.

AFSCME is only interesting in doing what they do, getting more money for their members. The only problem is they do this by getting into your pocket and mine and this "non-partisan" union is doing their work by labeling people zealots and labeling the dreaded right wing. It kind of makes me want to play the Darth Vader music.

This effort is NOT aimed at public services. This effort is aimed at the over-all tax burden in this state which is already high enough. Our State needs to learn to live within its means.

Frankly had the Governor and the Senate Democrats not been demanding $18 billion plus in increases (an outrageous sum) I doubt feelings would have been this intense. Their outrageous money grab has people ready to draw a line and say no more.

I have an idea, why don't we put a brand new tax on union dues and pompasswindbag party crashers?

Unlike Media Matters I'll admit I took these words out of context, but they are directly from his website.

So, lets have a Senator or five stand up and accuse John Edwards of taking drugs without a shread of evidence to back up that assertion. Let's have a few dozen headlines trumpeting this falsehood across the nation.

Media Matters can make stuff up and present it completely out of context, why not me?

October 7, 2007

The more vocal of the Ron Paul conspiracy nuts have been leading a loud complaint session on You Tube and everywhere else they can find in relation to Congressman Paul's speech at the Defending the American Dream summit. It has come up missing on the You Tube list.

What is posted there is posted here. Paul's is not the only candidate speech missing. His supporters though are the only ones out loudly slinging unfounded accusations.

I was concerned that there were many speakers that people might like to see: Mike Huckabee, Sam Brownback, Michael Steele, John Stossel and more.

This is the response I got back in regards to what happened to all of those videos.

Sorry about the Ron Paul video. We hired a company to tape all of the speeches and to post them quickly. They did a terrible job and did not send enough people to staff the event. They left the camera unattended and the tape ran out in the middle of Paul’s speech (also missing all of Brownback and Huckabee). They posted the speech and then noticed that they missed part of it, so they pulled it from YouTube. I’ve been trying to track down the complete footage and will post it ASAP.

I'm sure whatever they have will be posted as soon as possible. To the Pauliacs out there, you might just have to accept the fact that sometimes the world is not a perfect place and everyone is NOT out to get you.

AFP invited the Congressman. He accepted. As I reported earlier he stayed in the media room for at least 50 minutes after his speech and fielded every question anyone had. Of all the speakers he was the most gracious in that regard.

I am confident there was zero malice in regard to this video and I am also 100% sure AFP is trying to restore what they have.